Year 10 Ballarat Camp

On Monday 10th of May approximately 150 students and 15 staff set off for a week of adventure and learning in Ballarat. After an early departure, the group arrived in rainy Melbourne and split into groups to tour the Shrine of Remembrance, RMIT and Federation Square.

In Ballarat, the girls made their way to the accommodation at the Bell Tower Inn and the boys to the Windmill Holiday Park. Over the remainder of the week the group visited sites such as the Eureka Centre, Ballarat Tramway Museum, Ballarat Art Gallery and Sovereign Hill. They were also able to enjoy the Year 10 Formal, held at the George Hotel on Thursday night. See below for a recap from student Charlee Vernon –

Starting off in the pitch black dark morning of Sale, we boarded the bus and headed off to Melbourne. With half of us still asleep, and the other half awake, the excitement and the energy could be felt from all around. Splitting up into our house groups in Melbourne, we went to the beautiful Shrine of Remembrance where we had a tour, heading out to Fed Square where we all competed against each other for a selfies competition to win bragging rights, and finally wrapping up with an information session at RMIT. Every spare minute we had was spent buying food and enjoying the change of scenery- from the country classroom to the big bustling city.

After being worn out from the excitement of the city, we hopped back on the bus to head off to our home for the next few days- the amazing city of Ballarat. The boys and the girls were split in two different places and we caught up during the day to do various activities like Sovereign Hill, Eureka Museum, Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Museum, various tours within Sovereign Hill (including watching gold pour, and two mind tours), and one of the favourites of them all, having the trust of the teaches to be able to do whatever we wanted for an hour and having  freedom. This gave us a chance to show the teachers that we could trust one another to go off for a while and be reliable and we have definitely grown closer with both teachers and students alike.

While the boys were off in Ballarat Central shopping, the girls had returned to the Bell Tower Inn to prepare for the beautiful formal. Hotel rooms were covered with makeup palettes, hair straightens, perfume, hairspray, dresses and more. We all bundled back into the buses (after three hours of preparation of course), the extremely kind and caring bus drivers had decorated the buses to make us feel very fancy. Bracing the brisk cold rush of Ballarat, everyone raced into the George Hotel to be greeted with an amazing set up, loud music, flashing lights, food and drinks! The formal went on for hours and words cannot explain the good energy and excitement that was on the dance floor. On the Friday heading home, most of us were asleep and after stopping in Officer for a quick food break, we were all very happy with the outcome of camp.

A huge thanks to Ms Foat for the long process of planning for camp, as well as all the teachers and staff who also attended. We brought back amazing memories and this camp was one not to forget.

Charlee Vernon, Year 10 Student